The S&P 500 ETF closed up 0.3%, a modest gain that masked deep internal rotation as traders juggled a heavy earnings slate against a chaotic day of Iran headlines, including a reported US strike on Qeshm Island and conflicting signals on whether diplomacy is still alive. Iran's IRIB rejected talk of a deal and Tehran official Mohsen Rezaei said Washington's response to Iran's seven conditions was not convincing, even as Qatar said it still sees hope for an interim agreement and the US approved a Qatari-drafted memorandum of understanding. The New York Times reported the US military is preparing for a possible new strike on Iran as early as Wednesday, pending Trump's approval. Crude settled down modestly at $96.09 a barrel. Trump also said the US will end military aid to Israel, a move Israeli officials said caught them off guard given the $3.8bn in annual aid was built into the 2027-2028 defense budget.

Technology led sectors at +1.4%, powered by semiconductors (XSD +3.5%, SMH +2.0%) after a report that Anthropic's Claude is cutting chip design time relative to workflows at Nvidia and AMD. Oracle jumped 5.9% on a reported $10bn share sale, AMD rose 4.4% and Texas Instruments gained 3.5%. Industrials added 1.0%, led by Eaton (+7.3%) after it raised full-year guidance and agreed to buy COL Group for $921m. Materials fell 2.0% despite DuPont's 8.7% surge on raised guidance, as most other names in the sector declined. Consumer Staples dropped 2.1%, with Sysco down 9.4% after guiding full-year sales growth to the low end of its range and Keurig Dr Pepper off 5.4%. Financials slipped 0.7% and Consumer Discretionary fell 0.7%, with homebuilders among the weakest cohorts (ITB -3.5%). Company News Fabrinet jumped 15.0% on strong results, while Revvity rose 9.3%. Gartner fell 12.5% despite a Q3 beat and raised full-year guidance, as investors focused on a revenue miss. Zebra Technologies dropped 9.2% even after guiding fourth-quarter sales growth of 10% to 14%. Apple fell 2.0% after fiscal Q4 revenue of $114.50bn missed expectations despite a per-share beat. Shopify slid 8.7% on in-line guidance for low-thirties revenue growth next quarter. Thomson Reuters fell 8.3% and Archer-Daniels-Midland dropped 7.3% despite raising full-year EPS guidance. Aptiv fell 6.5% despite a beat and in-line full-year guidance. Leidos dropped 6.5% after trimming revenue guidance tied to a joint-venture adjustment, even as it raised EPS guidance. Neurocrine Biosciences jumped 13.5% after beating estimates and raising INGREZZA sales guidance. Clorox rose on a beat, with CEO Linda Rendle flagging a tougher inflation backdrop. Fiserv rose after raising its Project Elevate savings target to $1bn from $500m. ON Semiconductor cut its Synaptics deal to about $5.7bn in cash from a $7bn stock deal and agreed to buy Ferric for up to $775m tied to AI data center power delivery. Marathon Petroleum and MPLX both posted strong quarters, with MPC agreeing to sell its St. Paul Park and Mandan refineries to CVR Energy for $4.2bn. Pfizer, Amgen, Booking Holdings and Arista Networks all beat estimates and raised or maintained guidance; Arista posted its strongest revenue growth since its IPO. ADT agreed to be acquired by Thrive Holdings for $10.00 per share in cash.

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